„The morale of the troops is very good, recently however somewhat impressed by the material superiority of the enemy, above all in the air, in terms of artillery and tanks. The terror attacks and bomber attacks on the civilian population have a depressing effect, a large number of the soldiers have been given leave due to air-raid damage C and evacuation of family members.

After elimination of enemy air superiority and provision of sufficient quantities of ammunition for effective artillery combat, the west front no longer poses a threat. The troops are generally of the view that the enemy will then be expelled faster than they came in.”

Speer to Survey Interrogaroer on the Hamburg attaks about the Airattaks on Hamburg from Juli and August 1943.

USSBS Sumary Report (European War), 30th September 1945 (HF)

»I reportet for the first time orally to the Fuehrer that, if these attacks continued, a rapid end of the war might be the consequence.«

„It is however the case that the Russians and the English have now also taken it upon themselves to name the so-called Tiger II the ‘King Tiger’, which you know from a previous deployment, and we have adopted this from them ...”

Obviously it is now clear who thought of the name ‘King Tiger’ for the Tiger II.

„All PzKpfw skirts are to be removed before loading and to be placed under the relevant vehicle after loading. In the case of the PzKpfw III, IV and tank destroyers, the skirt fixing rails are to be unbolted and secured to the remaining vehicle jacks with tie wire. The side-protruding holders on the track covers are to be folded after removing the fixing screws. With the PzKpfw Panther the fixings designed for the skirts are to be removed from the loops that are welded to the vehicle by removing the cotter pin and fixing the cotter pin and fixture to a visible point.”

Extract from the decree for loading trains with tanks that have side-mounted protective skirts. The guidelines for the PzKpfw Panther refer exclusively to models D and A, for model G (which was not introduced until later) the skirt bracket was released in a different way.

“According to an announcement by the Reich’s minister for arms and munitions, further cutbacks in the use of rubber are necessary. Rubber parts in vehicles (track padding, tires etc.) are to be checked to see if they can be replaced by other raw materials. According to previously produced reports these savings had a definite effect on the speed of the vehicles.”

The rubber substitute material (Buna) diminished the properties of tires, conveyor belts etc. that were in use. Performance and road behavior were negatively influenced. These facts were in stark contradiction to publicly announced propaganda regarding the quality of Buna.

“According to an announcement by the Reich’s minister for arms and munitions, further cutbacks in the use of rubber are necessary. Rubber parts in vehicles (track padding, tires etc.) are to be checked to see if they can be replaced by other raw materials. According to previously produced reports these savings had a definite effect on the speed of the vehicles.”

The rubber substitute material (Buna) diminished the properties of tires, conveyor belts etc. that were in use. Performance and road behavior were negatively influenced. These facts were in stark contradiction to publicly announced propaganda regarding the quality of Buna.

“As terms such as “Wespe” [wasp], “Grille” [cricket] etc. led to a lack of clarity and therefore to constant mix-ups, the Fuehrer suggested that I show him a list to once and for all define the expressions for all tanks, tank destroyers, assault howitzers, assault tanks and self-propelled howitzers. The list must be agreed in advance by all departments involved.”

If the highest commander deals with such “trifling matters” something is not quite right.

„In this context, the Fuehrer pointed again to the extraordinary exposition of Friedrichshafen, Schweinfurt and Kassel to air raids. The build up and implementation of dispersal plants for these towns has to have priority over all other dispersal programs.”The further development of the air war showed, that Hitlers timidity had good reasons – Schweinfurt was heavily bombed two month later. See our document of the month March 2005 too.

This British view shows their idea of tank warfare in 1937. Instead of taking tanks as a independent weapon, as the German HQ did, they understood it as a part of the infantry armies, end employed it like that. (Handbook for the Tanks, Light, Marks II, IIA, IIB, III, IV, V and VI : London 1937, His Majesty's Stationery Office)

»The Tank is a weapon evolved by Great Britain during 1915 and employed on active service with great success during the remainder of the Great War. It is an essential part of the fighting equipment of all modern wars.«

The German military influenced the motorisation in general positively, and together with that the involved companies too.

The quote is found in a festival text dealing with Bussing company development up to 1927. In this publication are many photographs and drawings, showing up 'high-tech'. Quote ist found on pages 10 and 11.

»The year 1908 was significant for the further development of our company, as the German Army Offices … started to subsidy trucks.«

After WW2 there were several studies in German war technology designs. One series was processed by the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee (CIOS) The quote on the right side is from:History of German Tank development / CIOS Report 18 and 19, Armored Fighting Vehicls and Vehicles / 25 Jun 1945 (HF)

»According to documents found at the departement Wolfert of Krupp at Egeln, this firm began work on tanks in 1928. They built the model LAS (Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper, agricultural tractor) which finally became the PzKw I.«

»The Germans have long devoted a large part of their national energies to both the study and the application of the science of war. The German Army which was built up under the Nazi regime and which challenged the world in 1939 war the final product of this study.«